r
he'd got Hen to lead up to it, mind you. That Casey Town was boomin' big
an' that his own holdin's was nettin' him a heap. That he liked Hen
fine an' had picked him out as a representative citizen. With a lot mo'
slush, the upshot of which was that he lets him have a hundred shares of
the Molly Mine at par. Hen was to say nothin' about it because, says
Keith, if it got out he was sellin' stock, it would send down the price
of the shares an' hurt Casey Town in general, Hereford some, an' you-all
at the Three Star in partickler. I reckon he was plausible enough. Hen
was sure tickled. He w'udn't have said a word about it on'y Ed picks
these shares up out of the bed of the crick an' give them to Hen afteh
he'd been fixed up.

"Ed went nosin' around Hereford this mo'nin'. He got eight men--their
names is inside the envelope--Creel one of 'em--to admit they'd bought
some shares. Mighty glad they was to have 'em. Ed didn't tell 'em
anything different, but he come scootin' home at noon an' I borrowed
Hen's certificut, seein' he was asleep. An' here it is."

"Mirandy," said Sandy, "I'll let Mormon tell you what we all think of
you. You've sure dealt me an ace. Mormon, help Sam ride herd on the
secretary. I'll be callin' you in after a bit. You'll stay, Mirandy?"

"I'll go visit with Kate Nicholson. I'm beginnin' to like her real well.
Molly away?"

Sandy left Mormon to tell her and returned to the office. Keith eyed the
envelope.

"Blake coming?" he asked.

"Not yet. When do we get another dividend from the Molly, Keith?"

Keith laughed.

"You're as bad as all the others," he said. "Sell a man stock, give him
a dividend and he's like a girl eating candy. You had one just fourteen
weeks ago."

Sandy nodded.

"I was askin' you about the _next_," he said, his voice still drawling
but with a finer edge to it.

"Needing some ready money?"

"How about the dividend?"

"Why, that depends upon the output." Keith's voice purred but his eyes
had narrowed. He watched Sandy like a card player who begins to think
his opponent superior to first impressions. "The output has been big.
The Molly has been a bonanza, so far. I do not think it wise always to
pay dividends according to the immediate production, however. It is
better, as a rule, to average it, generally to develop the mine as a
whole rather than work the first rich veins."

"That why you boarded up the stopes?"

Keith's face grew dark. The veins twitched at his